In a year when Uttar Pradesh grappled with violent crime, some of the most disturbing cases were not about strangers or organised gangs, but about families imploding from within where trust collapsed, blood ties snapped, and relationships ended not in separation but in death. Police records, post-mortem reports and court proceedings across districts told variations of the same story of relationships curdling into hostility and private disputes turning fatal. One of the most chilling cases surfaced in September when police in Sambhal uncovered what they described as an "insurance mafia" operating from within a family. It was alleged that Vishal Singhal killed his parents years apart and later his ex-wife, to claim insurance payouts exceeding Rs 50 crore. His mother's death in 2017 and his father's death in April this year were projected as road accidents and quietly closed at the time. It was only after a woman from Meerut approached police that the pattern emerged 64 insurance ..